We should be fracking all over the UK, says Paterson

DRILLING for shale gas should take place ‘all over rural parts of the UK’, Owen Paterson has declared.

The Environment Secretary risks a clash with green groups over his plans for the controversial technology, but says Britain must cash in on gas trapped in rocks deep underground to ‘create prosperity and jobs’.

He said shale has already dramatically reduced gas prices in the US, now a net exporter of energy, and it would be done safely in Britain.

‘The opportunities here are enormous,’ he said during questioning by a House of Lords committee yesterday. ‘I would like to see shale gas exploited all over rural parts of the UK.’

Mr Paterson said opponents of fracking were ‘doing a good job at alarming the public’ and admitted that the Government had to do more to convince the country of its benefits.

‘We need to get on the front foot,’ he said. ‘It really is important to convince people. There is no way we are cutting down the rigour of our environmental regulation, and done properly there is nothing to fear.’

David Cameron has thrown his weight behind a drilling programme and has announced generous tax breaks for fracking companies. Local communities have also been promised £100,000 grants if a test well is ‘fracked’ near them, as well as one per cent of future revenues.